Community

This last week K has been away and I've stayed in Cuddesdon working on essays. One of the lovely things for me this week was the growing sense of community amongst both those ordinands like myself who have been here for at least a year and those who have just moved into their flats and are finding their way. We have a weekly Dunk- coffee morning where we all gather and try to learn about each other. The children play out on the climbing frame and enjoy the cakes, the adults chat and make connections. Alongside this there are informal gatherings for walks, treasure hunts and pub expedition. I've also enjoyed sharing fellowship and coffee with a couple of ordinands in my flat and visited others for coffee.
One of the sad parts of community though is when people leave. While we said goodbye to a number in June the sadness was tinged with joy as we knew they moving on to their calling to ordained ministry and we rejoiced in their next step. However, one family have made the difficult decision that this life is not for them at this time and moved out earlier this week. There were many tears as we said goodbye and prayed for them, knowing that for them the future at this stage is an unknown. There was a real sense of bereavement and mourning in college that day.
On a lighter note K is home again having thoroughly enjoyed his week w=away sailing and next week we are off on holiday. In the meantime I have had to dump 2000 words of an essay I had written when I had it confirmed by my tutor that I'd gone to much down a wrong direction and now I've done all the reading and note taking and am ready to rewrite the essay. My plan had been to have 2 handed in before holiday- I'll do well if I manage to get the one in!
One final joy, numbers at morning prayer are up this week- from a low on Monday of one- me- to 17 yesterday! I know that when I pray on my own I'm joining with all those other Christians around the world praying the morning office at that time- but it does make it a more joyful time when we are gathered in body as well as spirit. And the singing is better as well!!